The present invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning or washing a printing cylinder of a printing machine by means of a washing material rolled from a supply roll and brought into contact with the printing cylinder by a pressure mechanism.
One of the known cleaning devices of the type under discussion has been disclosed in DE-OS No. 3,005,469. The disclosed device includes a supply roll positioned in the side walls thereof, a rolling-up roll and a mechanism for pressing the washing cloth against the cylinder being cleaned. The known device further includes nozzle tubes for water, air and washing liquid. Further the known device has an arrangement for scanning the diameter of the rolling-up roll and a device for controlling a periodical drive so that the same portion of the washing material be continually removed from the supply roll independently from its diameter.
If the washing unit was used up the whole device had to be lifted from the receiving units arranged in the walls of the printing machine and removed from the machine in order to replace the used-up washinging cloth with a new one. Before this operation all the supply conduits for water, air and washing agent had to be separated from the printing machine.
The removal of the cleaning unit from the printing machine has been required not only for exchange of the washing material which is by itself time-consuming and expensive but also for auxiliary and adjusting operations of the machine.
It has been also disadvantageous in conventional cleaning devices of the type under discussion that such a device had a great mass due to a great number of structural components, which could lead, particularly with printing machines of great size, to problems and required at least two persons to install the device into and remove the same from the printing machine. Furthermore, specific connection plugs have been required for coupling and uncoupling supply conduits. The insertion and removal of the device as well as the exchange of the washing material has been time-consuming, which affected the productivity of the printing machine.
A washing device of another type has been disclosed in DT OS No. 2,052,996. This washing device has been designed only for cleaning specific offset printing materials. The supply roll provided in this device supplies a grease-treated cloth which is fed by two periodically driven transporting rollers of the pressing mechanism to a collecting pan. This conventional device, however can be suitable only for special printing machines and is not universal. The machine has also a great mass and requires a great deal of space, which leads to the limitation of an operational space, particularly wih the printing machines employed in aggregates. Finally, the exchange of the grease-treated washing material is complicated, which also affects the efficiency of the printing machine.